Lead Engineer AI Developer Platform

Job Title: Lead Engineer AI Developer Platform
Job Location: St. Petersburg, FL (Hybrid)

Bill Rate: : $87/hr

Job Type: C2C/1099 Contract

Client: To Be Discussed Later

Work Authorization: US-Citizen, H-1B, OPT-EAD, GC-EAD

Required Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience building enterprise-scale software platforms, internal developer tools, SDKs, or distributed systems.
• Minimum 2 years of hands-on experience designing and implementing solutions using Large Language Models (LLMs) and agentic AI systems.
• Experience extending or integrating AI coding assistants such as Claude Code, OpenAI Codex, Cursor, Continue, Aider, or comparable developer tools.
• Strong programming expertise in Python along with working knowledge of Node.js and TypeScript.
• Experience building integrations using Model Context Protocol (MCP), LangChain, LangGraph, Copilot extensions, JetBrains AI plugins, or similar AI integration frameworks.
• Strong understanding of prompt engineering, tool-calling workflows, context management, token optimization, and AI system limitations.
• Experience working with multiple LLM providers (OpenAI, Anthropic, Azure OpenAI, etc.) and designing vendor-neutral AI architectures.
• Experience developing cross-platform solutions for Windows, macOS, and Linux, including installation automation, shell scripting, credential management, and platform compatibility.
• Working knowledge of one or more enterprise technology stacks including Python, Java/Spring Boot, Angular, React, .NET, Oracle, Amazon Redshift, or Microsoft SQL Server.
• Proven history of delivering highly reliable engineering platforms used daily by software development teams.
• Experience working within regulated environments such as Financial Services with emphasis on security, auditability, secrets management, data governance, and AI risk mitigation.
• Practical knowledge of AI security including prompt injection prevention, PII protection, secret redaction, trust boundaries, and secure AI application design.
• Strong understanding of Agile development, trunk-based development, code reviews, CI/CD pipelines, automated testing, and observability practices.
• Experience with Azure DevOps, Jenkins, SonarQube, and monitoring platforms such as Splunk, Datadog, or Dynatrace.
• Demonstrated technical leadership through architecture reviews, technical decision documents, mentoring senior engineers, and influencing engineering direction without direct management responsibility.
• Experience evaluating AI systems using benchmark datasets, regression testing, golden task sets, judge models, or similar AI evaluation techniques.
• Active participation in developer tools, AI engineering, or open-source communities through technical contributions, presentations, blogs, or published content.

Key Responsibilities

• Define and lead the long-term technical architecture for the enterprise AI Developer Platform.
• Design scalable, maintainable, and portable AI solutions that support multiple AI coding assistants and IDE environments.
• Develop and deliver critical platform capabilities including installation automation, AI workflow orchestration, enterprise integrations, and developer productivity features.
• Build reliable cross-platform installation and deployment experiences for Windows, macOS, and Linux.
• Design telemetry, usage analytics, and AI cost reporting capabilities to provide visibility into AI adoption and consumption.
• Build secure sandbox environments for validating AI-generated code before production deployment.
• Continuously evaluate emerging AI models, developer tools, orchestration frameworks, and agent technologies to keep the platform current.
• Lead architecture reviews, establish engineering standards, perform code reviews, and maintain high-quality development practices.
• Drive production incident response, platform reliability improvements, and operational excellence.
• Collaborate with engineering teams to expand platform capabilities through reusable integrations and enterprise connectors.
  Equal Opportunity Employer:
  We are an equal opportunity employer. All aspects of employment including the decision to hire, promote, discipline, or discharge, will be based on merit, competence, performance, and business needs. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, marital status, age, national origin, ancestry, physical or mental disability, medical condition, pregnancy, genetic information, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, citizenship/ immigration status, veteran status, or any other status protected under federal, state, or local law